


The Devil Came In From the Cold

by MsFaust



Series: Inky Tales [198]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Henry doesn’t go back to the studio, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Safety list compliant, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-11-04 21:57:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17906414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsFaust/pseuds/MsFaust
Summary: Henry and the rest of the Sillyvision Survivors thought they’d left their past behind them. But then Bendy, Boris, and Alice showed up at Henry’s door.See what happens in the year following.My 200th BATIM fic.





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [With Infinite Worlds, Everything Must Exist Somewhere](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12785889) by [Star_Going_Supernova](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Going_Supernova/pseuds/Star_Going_Supernova). 



> Safe: C2 characters, C3 characters, Wally, Lacie, Henry
> 
> I may be rearranging chapters as time goes on, as my intention is to keep them in chronological order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part in bold taken from inspiration (with slight modification)

**In another world, Henry looked up from his couch when his doorbell rang. It was late, and mid-February. Who could be out there?**

**He pulled his front door open and only vaguely registered his jaw dropping. Standing on his porch were three…well, they looked like cartoons. In fact, they looked like Bendy, Alice, and Boris.**

**“What the—how, who—what is—?” With all the questions flooding his mind, Henry didn’t have a clue where to start.**

**The three of them were shivering, and when Bendy spoke, his teeth chattered. “A-are you Henry Stein? Joe-Joey’s old friend?”**

**Henry nodded, dumbstruck.**

**“Please,” Bendy begged quietly. “Help us.”**

**He didn’t know exactly who—or even what—they were, but that didn’t stop Henry from ushering them inside and finding some spare blankets for them.**

**Once they looked a bit warmer, he asked, “How is this possible? And what happened that made you come looking for me?”**

**Exchanging glances between each other, the toons said as one, “Joey Drew happened.”**

 

(BATIM)

 

Henry decided that a full explanation could wait until all of the Sillyvision Survivors were available to hear it. The Toons agreed—it would probably be easier to tell it just once.

 

Meanwhile, Henry was able to dig out a few sleeping bags and pillows, which he felt would suffice until they could work out something more permanent. He had no intention of making them leave. Whatever Joey had done must have been horrible. After all, he’d left after realizing the man didn’t give a rat’s ass about the safety of his employees.

 

Unfortunately, as cozy as the sleeping bags were, they didn’t stave off the nightmare Bendy had...

 

_“Keep moving!” Boris shouted. “We’re almost there!”_

_Gasping for breath, Bendy ran as fast as his short legs would carry him. Alice followed the demon and wolf, with Jack bringing up the rear. The lyricist had convinced some of his fellow Searchers to help the Toons escape, and many had already been sent back into the dark puddles courtesy of the Ink Demon. Still, it was worth it if the Toons would be free. Besides, they wouldn’t be down long. Part of their damnation was that they would come back to continue suffering again and again._

_“There it is!” Alice pointed towards the door leading out of the studio._

_A look of relief crossed Bendy’s face, only to vanish as a web of ink formed on the walls._

_“It’s the Ink Demon!”_

_“Well, what are you waiting for?” Jack demanded. “Get out of here!”_

_“But what about you?” Bendy shouted back, looking distraught._

_“I’ll hold him off!” replied Jack. “Now go!”_

_The trio did, being sure to leap over the trap in the floor. Boris grabbed the doorknob and wrenched it open. Hearing the shriek of the Ink Demon, Bendy was about to look back when Alice grabbed his hand, pulling him through the door..._

 

“Bendy!”

 

The demon let out a gasp as he woke up. It took him a moment to realize where he was, but as soon as he saw Henry’s worried face, he remembered.

 

 _You’re not in the studio anymore_ , he reminded himself. _You got out with Boris and Alice, and you found Henry. You’re safe now._

 

And when Henry pulled him into a hug, with Boris and Alice joining in (having been awoken by Bendy’s cries), he knew everything would be all right.

 

(BATIM)

 

Linda and Vicky arrived home two days later, the former having been chaperoning the latter’s class trip to Orlando. They were both delighted to meet the Toons, though they could see that whatever had prompted the three to come looking for Henry must have been horrible. Wally, who met them when he dropped by to return a DVD he’d borrowed, felt the same way.

 

About a week after the Toons arrived, Sammy and Susie returned from their trip to Seattle. Henry promptly called a Sillyvision Survivors meeting so that the Toons could tell their story. While no one was exactly surprised that Joey had subjected the people still working for him to a fate worse than death, they were still horrified and angered.

 

“Bad enough that Joey didn’t give a damn while we were working at that god forsaken place,” Thomas growled. “But selling the souls of the people who were still there?”

 

“Good thing we all got out ‘fore that happened,” agreed Wally. “And that it came back to bite him in the ass.”

 

Sammy made a sound of agreement as he leaned over to put a comforting hand on Susie’s shoulder. Joey’s attempt to get out of paying his end of the Faustian pact by substituting his remaining workers had angered the demon, who had killed the director and taken over his body. Sadly, those whom Joey had sacrificed were still trapped in the form of ink monsters.

 

“As if his bein’ a control freak wasn’t enough,” grumbled Shawn.

 

“If you think his perfectionism was bad, you should have tried dealing with his finances,” huffed Grant.

 

“We all knew there was something wrong with that man,” Norman said. “But it wasn’t ‘til he started acting really weird that we got the courage to leave.”

 

“To be honest, I should have left when he first started calling me Alice,” added Allison, shuddering at the memory. “He did that to Susie and it creeped her out something fierce.”

 

“You didn’t like it when he called you by my name?”

 

Susie gave Alice an incredulous look. “God no! Where did you get _that_ idea?”

 

“Last I checked, that could be seen as sexual harassment,” Sammy agreed. “If she hadn’t loved voicing you so much, she would have left a lot sooner.”

 

“We all should have left sooner,” said Lacie. “Once we did, though, we all swore we’d never return.”

 

“And you three are never going back to that place either,” Henry promised. “I won’t let that happen.”

 

Absolutely no one disagreed.


	2. Children and Chinese Food

Taking the Toons out to public places was going to be tricky, but Henry knew that they couldn’t stay inside forever. Not that he wanted to—they were obviously aware of how strange the idea of living cartoon characters was to most people, but they’d been stuck in one prison for far too long already. As such, when Wally suggested they go out to Rising Suns, a local Asian fusion restaurant, he brought them along. Much to his surprise, stares of curiosity seemed to be the worst they were getting.

 

“Been a while since you were last here,” remarked Sammy as Henry took a seat next to him. “Where’s Linda?”

 

“She’s working late,” Henry admitted.

 

“Gina too,” Thomas piped up. “But it looks like we all brought kids, so there’s that.”

 

Hearing this, the Toons looked around. Aside from Vicky, there were five other kids, most of whom were elementary school age. The exception, a four-year-old boy with dark brown hair, noticed them and perked up.

 

“Mommy, look! Doggie!”

 

Susie, sitting next to him, gently laughed. “Actually, Boris is a wolf, but he does seem more like a dog at times.”

 

“If I remember right, he is supposed to be part dog,” Allison chimed in.

 

“You already know Vicky, of course.” Susie gestured to a nine-year old blonde girl and the younger boy. “This is my daughter Lucy and her brother Jude.”

 

“Hi!” Lucy greeted them cheerfully.

 

“That’s Wally and Allison’s son Scott, Tom’s daughter Mercy, and Shawn and Lacie’s son Peter.” Here she indicated a seven-year-old boy with light brown hair, an eight-year-old dark haired girl, and a redheaded nine-year-old boy with skin the color of chocolate milk, who all greeted the Toons as well.

 

“Ni hao, and welcome to Rising Suns.” A young Asian woman whose pageboy cut dark hair was tipped with light purple had arrived at their table. “Can I take your orders?”

 

“Hi, Andy,” said Norman. “Most of us are ready, but our new friends here might need some help. Bendy, Boris, Alice, this is Andrea Wong. Her dad’s in charge here.”

 

“Call me Andy.”

 

(BATIM)

 

Once their food arrived, Andrea joined them at the table—she had been friends with the gang for a while, and she was on break anyway.

 

“So what exactly is Asian fusion?” asked Alice.

 

“Basically, fusion cuisine is when you mix different kinds of food-related traditions,” Andrea explained. “My dad’s originally from China, and my mom’s from Japan, so in addition to Chinese food, he learned how to cook other kinds of Asian food—Japanese, Korean, Thai, and a few others. Don’t ask him for fortune cookies, though. He won’t serve them because they’re not really Asian, which makes them ‘an insult to real Chinese food.’”

 

“Sounds like he takes it pretty seriously.”

 

“Yeah,” agreed Susie. “He’s kind of like Gordon Ramsey in that way.”

 

“Who’s Gordon Ramsey?”

 

Andrea was about to reply, but they were cut off by the sound of chopsticks being dropped onto a plate.

 

“I can’t use these!” whined Bendy, burying his face in his hands. “What am I doing wrong?”

 

“Here, let me show you.”

 

As Andrea showed Bendy how to hold the chopsticks, Boris looked over at Wally and Shawn, who were still talking excitedly.

 

“I swear, if they don’t say ‘Avengers, Assemble’ at least once, I’m gonna scream.”

 

“Personally, I just want to know how they’re goin’ to bring everyone back,” Shawn said. “The Far From Home trailer says they will.”

 

“What are you guys talking about?” asked Boris curiously.

 

“Endgame,” Wally replied. “It’s the fourth Avengers movie.”

 

“Maybe we should bring the Toons when we go see it,” Norman suggested.

 

“We’ll have to show ‘em all the movies that came before,” Shawn told him. “Gotta make sure they know what’s going on.”

 

“Probably not all of ‘em,” said Wally. “We can skip Hulk—it ain’t a bad movie, but you don’t need to see it to understand what comes after.”

 

“I’m game,” Henry said. “Of course, we’ll have to figure out when to watch—“

 

“Dad, can I have some of your fried rice, please?” interrupted Vicky.

 

“Sure, honey.”


End file.
